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Chapter VI - Madison Elected and War Declared
Madison Elected and War Declared 1809 - 1812
After fifteen months of turmoil Jefferson admitted that the embargo was a disaster. On March 1, 1809, he repealed the hated Embargo Act as one of the last deeds of what he called his "splendid misery" as president. Facing public outrage over the embargo, growing divisions in the Republican Party, and a federalist revival, Jefferson chose not to run for a third term. Instead, he supported James Madison, his secretary of state, as the Republican candidate. Madison became the fourth president of the United States, defeating Charles Cotesworth Pinckney by 122 electoral votes to 46.
From the very beginning of his term Madison became deeply mired in the quicksand of foreign affairs. Following Jeffersn's program of "peaceable coercion," he still insisted on neutrality of the seas, but with a twist. In place of the Embargo Act, Congress substituted the Non-Intercourse Act which attempted to reopen trade with all countries except France and Britain but also authorized the resumption of trade with either country if it "ceased to violate neutral rights." Since neither France nor Britain changed their aggressive policies, this act proved to be as ineffective as the Embargo Act.
When the futile Non-Intercourse Act expired in 1810, Congress tried yet another approach, the Macon Bill. This bill reopened trade with both Britain and France but ruled that trade would cease with any country that violated American shipping rights. In 1811 the crafty Napoleon declared that French aggression against United Stares shipping would end. As a result, Madison, desperate to avoid a war with France, prohibited trade with the increasingly hostile Great Britain. True to form, Napoleon reneged on his promise, the French continued to seize American ships, and foreign policy once again dismally failed to remedy trade ailments.
Hatred of the British for their impressment of American sailors, their violation of the sea's neutral rights and their alliance with western Indians was much stronger than anger over the few ships lawlessly seized by the French. War hawks, a group of land-hungry Southerners and Westerners led by Henry Clay of Kentucky and John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, vigorously agitated for war with Britain. At the same time, most citizens of the coastal states opposed war since it would inevitably lead to blockades and the possible destruction of seaports. Pressured from both sides, Madison and Congress declared war on Britain on June 14, 1812. The vote for war of 77 to 49 in the House and 19 to 13 in the Senate reflected deep regional differences that would not only continue to exist during the War of 1812 but also remain to fester after the war ended.
War against Btitain at this time was a "foolish adventurer" because the United States was financially and militarily unprepared. A scarcity of funds made the U.S. Navy the only adequate military force, and thus the state militias had to shoulder the burden of land combat. Fortunately, Britain was preoccupied with France, and, consequently, full-scale battles were rare. Determining that Canada was the only place for an effective strike, American strategists planned a three-pronged thrust: along the Niagara River, over Lake Champlain toward Montreal, aud into upper Canada from Detroit. Hopefully, this attack would split the Canadian and pro-British forces in two. Instead, the invasion would end in disaster.
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